Boehner gives up the perk of his own plane

Commentary: New speaker takes principled and political stand

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — As speaker of the House, John Boehner says he’ll fly commercial when he travels home to Ohio, and won’t take advantage of the military jets that Democrat Nancy Pelosi has used for the past four years to get back to her district in California.

Thus ends one of the great invented scandals of recent years that, in its modest way, helped give Pelosi a reputation as a spoiled brat and helped turn the voters back to the Republican fold.

Whenever the conversation came around to Pelosi, you were sure to hear someone complain about how the pampered politician stomped her foot and demanded a spacious jetliner to fly her and her posse of hangers-on all over the country at taxpayer’s expense.

It wasn’t just the wasted dollars; it was the sense of entitlement and privilege that rankled. The story of the special jet fueled the perception that Pelosi was an elitist.

The facts of the matter were more mundane: Since 9/11, the speaker of the House has flown on military jets to ensure his or her safety, as someone who’s just two heartbeats away from the presidency. President George W. Bush ordered it. Speaker Denny Hastert, a Republican from Illinois, flew back to his district nearly every weekend with absolutely no controversy or criticism.

But when Pelosi took over as speaker in 2007, she asked for a bigger plane that could make it from Washington to San Francisco without stopping to refuel. And the criticism from the right-wing blogs and talk shows erupted and has never ceased.

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Having the speaker fly on a military plane certainly makes sense from a practical point of view. And there’s no evidence that Pelosi abused the privilege. She rarely used the 45-seat 757 plane; instead, she usually flew on the 12-seater Gulfstream. Read more about the “controversy” at Snopes.com.

Doing what makes pragmatic sense doesn’t always make sense politically, however. Boehner realized that he couldn’t keep flying on the military jets, after all the crap Pelosi got for doing it.

So Boehner announced on Wednesday that he’d fly on commercial planes as a matter of principle. It may save the taxpayers some money, but it will certainly pay off for Boehner politically.

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